Aspen Seminar for Young European Leaders
The fifth annual edition of the Aspen Seminar for Young European Leaders was held on September 9-12, 2021 in Liblice, Czech Republic. The seminar is held under the umbrella of the Aspen Initiative for Europe, and each year is co-organized by two European Aspens. The 2021 edition was co-organized by the Aspen Institute Central Europe and Aspen Institute Romania.
The program is conducted in the classic Aspen manner and was expertly moderated by Leigh Hafrey, senior lecturer in the Behavioral and Policy Sciences at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and Ruth Girardet, Member of the Board, Open University, London. It is based on selected texts by prominent European and non-European thinkers and philosophers challenging the participants to explore common values, topical issues and timeless questions. They also ultimately examine the questions today’s young generation faces in tackling questions of European identity and how they should engage with European ideals.
This year’s seminar was entitled “Post-Pandemic, a Paradigm Shift on/in Europe?” and included 6 sessions based on texts from authors such as Ivan Krastev, Arundathi Roy, Vaclav Havel, Maria Draghi, Karel Čapek, Slavenka Drakulic, Ernest Renan and many other.
